This invention relates to force and moment sensors.
In many fields such as robotics it is necessary to determine the forces and moments which are applied by a drive member to a driven member. The most commonly used force moment sensor which is presently available has a crusiform configuration and strain guages are mounted on the arms of the crusiform so that the forces and moments applied to the sensor can be determined. The principal difficulty with this type of sensor is that all of the forces and moments which are applied to the system must pass through the sensor and in circumstances where these forces may be very high it is necessary to make the crusiform structurally strong. This has the effect of reducing the sensitivity of the sensor because the strain applied by very small forces is not readily detected. It is, therefore, necessary to compromise between the structural strength requirements of the system and the level of sensitivity which is required.